Mischief Managed

          𝐌𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐘 𝐃𝐈𝐃𝐍’𝐓 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓.  there was confusion, there was anger, there was shock.  she was momentarily speechless before she started choking on words, unable to get anything out out of pure anger.  ❝ wh—you—what do you mean you  LEFT !  y—you don’t just leave hogwarts !  have you any idea what we spend to get you kids prepared for school a—and now y—you just waste it away by leaving ! ❞  she was moments away from pulling her own hair out.  she was pacing the kitchen, hands running through her dulling red hair.  ❝ you better have a bloody good explanation for this or else— ❞

          and then she stops, dead in her tracks as brown hues notice a deep red mark on his hand.  brows knit together as she reaches out, pulling his hand closer to her face so she could make out the mark only to see that it was words.  words scarred into his hand.  ❝ george, what is this ? ❞  now her tone has softened some out of worry.  surely her boy wouldn’t do that to himself would he ?

          When his mum had started going off and had begun her lecturing --- George honestly hadn’t been surprised. He and Fred had been on the receiving end of such lectures countless times for their antics. He supposed this was no different... Considering the fireworks show they’d put on whilst crashing the fifth year’s exams before they left... But they’d had good reason for doing so and he felt no guilt about it or for Umbridge. What he hadn’t necessarily been expecting, was her to see the scar on his hand, the one that a collection of students from Hogwarts had now, and when she began to worry over it, he let out a soft sigh and pulled his hand away, offering his mother a reassuring smile. He didn’t do sadness, or worrying, it wasn’t in his nature. 

          Fred laughed gruffly, a shrug of his shoulders. “Actually, mate, I was hoping you’d have the answer to that one.” He nodded at his twin, a small grin making its way onto his lips. Idle hands ran through the long strands of his hair before scrubbing over his face. Adults. They were adults. They had somewhat of a childhood before everything happened, so they’d been the lucky ones. But yes, it’d been cut too soon, their childhood. All of theirs had. And now they were adults, regardless if they felt ready so. “Honestly on one hand, it’s good. We’re doing it, Georgie, everything we dreamed. And it is bloody good. But on the other hand, I miss certain things that we only experience during the holidays. I miss mum more often than not, and dad. Waking up in the childhood room we grew up, dreamed all of this up. I miss that room.” Fred admitted and then he shook his head, sigh escaping him. Flicking a jellybean at George, he waggled his finger at him and laughed. “But you and I, we’ll always be young at heart so don’t you worry!” He reminded his brother, a mischievous look on his face.

          starter for @humanbludger

It was getting easier,  but it still felt difficult for Percy to talk to George.   He wanted to mend their relationship.   Percy had never particularly had much in common with George,  but they were  brothers.   Percy wanted what was best for George,  and he couldn’t quite imagine how hard losing Fred was on him,  but he didn’t want to see it eat him alive.   Percy was one to talk on dealing with the traumas of what had happened during the war,  but that wasn’t important.

❝Are you going to   –   go back to work?❞  He asked,  hesitantly.

          Their family was large, and the burrow had always been so full of life and sound and laughter, ---- or their mother scolding he and Fred for whatever antics they had been getting up to. And even if they hadn’t always been the closest to their brother Percy,and they had always been worlds apart in how they were, George had still always looked up to him. He was academic, smart, in ways that they perhaps weren’t. And now...? He was still his brother and family felt even more important than it ever had before, now that he was missing his partner in crime. 

          But then the question about the shop came, and George felt his stomach churn again, brows pulled together and lips had been missing his smile for a long time. The family had lost one joker but was down two, currently, and he couldn’t imagine setting foot inside the shop without being able to turn to his twin, to share a grin of pride over what they’d accomplished. Eyes flickered from Percy, and settled down at his hands. He knew that Fred would want him to, he knew that Fred would tell him to cheer up and continue his adventure for the both of them, but that was a harder thing to do when you were the one left behind. When you were missing half of yourself, someone you’d done everything with since day one. 

          “Georgie!” He called as soon as he saw his brother. “A sight for sore eyes you are, huh? But maybe that’s because you look a bit like me…” He laughed quietly but the hollow that he felt caused it to lose sound almost immediately. He was a bit out of sorts, really, and still coming to terms with this new life. A ghost, really? But he supposed he had unfinished business or perhaps he just couldn’t go yet and that was fine. This was his way of getting extra time. The male raised an eyebrow, looking over his brother. “Oi, might want to brush your hair, looking rather rubbish.” Fred teased, knowing that if he was hurting, it had to be equally bad or worse on George. He just wanted to see a smile on George’s lips. Something to maybe lighten the pain that he felt in his chest. How could ghosts feel pain? He didn’t know, but boy, did he feel it.           “How’s mum? I told ole’ Minnie I just wanted to see you first. Nothing personal, you see, just figured you could prepare them the best for this. If they come visit. I have rules on that, though, brother.”              He gave his brother a stern look and then smiled sadly. “Now, Forge, you’ve got to swear to listen. If you, or anyone else in the family is coming to visit, you can’t give up your life. You specifically. Not that the others don’t love me… I mean, how can they not? A bloody riot, I am! But you and me, Georgie. We’re pals since the beginning. And I just… need you to promise you won’t be stuck here with me until you’ve lived out your life. Proper and true. You’ve got the shop, and a life to live. Love to find, a family to build. And if I’m lucky enough, I’ll get to hang out with your kids.” Fred stopped, looking away. Ghosts couldn’t cry. Not physically, at least. He’d tried many times, thinking and hoping it would help the feeling ease away but it didn’t. It never did. Nothing could stop the sound that he made either and he looked back to George, frowning deeply. “I’m sorry, George. I thought I was ready… been a few weeks, thought I’d gotten over the sadness already. But will you promise me that? Will you promise to live your life?” 

          Right away, despite the evident pain he could hear in Fred’s voice, Fred was cracking jokes, and George knew what his game was. Knew that they were both here hurting and Fred’s intention was to ease that somewhat... But when you yourself were someone who did that for other people, who lived to brighten up the lives of everyone around you, and who often used jokes as a tactic to hide your own suffering, it was kind of hard to let the heaviness lift when you were hurting like George felt he was. He wanted to laugh, or smile at least, but the truth was, since that day he’d lost his twin, George hadn’t been the same either. It felt hard to go about his day, it felt hard to get out of bed in the morning when he’d wake up and realise that Fred wasn’t there and it was like a punch to the cut every time. Not wanting Fred to think he was ignoring him, he let his lips pull in a very faint way, before he dipped his head for a moment, only looking back up when his brother began to speak again, asking how their mum was, and then he began to explain his rules.

          This was hard. Harder than he thought it would be. He thought that coming here, seeing Fred here would be easy because he’d finally have what he wanted back, but it wasn’t the same, it was still harbouring all the pain of what happened. It wasn’t even like he could look at it as though... Fred had just moved away, because he hadn’t. 

@humanbludger plotted starter

          𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐂𝐊 𝐎𝐍 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐘𝐒 𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐎𝐎𝐑.  school was still going on, their exams should be taking place any day now !  why in the hell were they at home ?  what if those bloody boys got expelled !  it wouldn’t surprise her with the way that they act at school.  probably those horrid candies of theirs.  fury was immediate as she marched around the long dining table towards her boys.  ❝ you upstairs !  you, right here ! ❞  a gesture for fred to march upstairs and for george to sit down in his usual chair at the table.  if they thought she’d interrogate them together they were sadly mistaken.  those two were far too clever together, and the best way to get clear information was to separate them.

          As expected, their mum looked far less than pleased when they arrived home, they hadn’t expected her to be happy about it, but they certainly weren’t going to be staying at Hogwarts after what they did either, or what was going on there. A look was given to Fred as he moved to head upstairs at their mother’s instruction, before he looked back to her, and moved to sit down at the table as told. He wasn’t entirely sure how she would take things, but he didn’t regret what he and Freddie had done either. Umbridge had deserved it, and something had needed to be done. The punishments she was using... They were not okay. 

misc sentence starters

@therearemoreimportanthings

          Brows furrow in confusion at Hermione’s words —– the girl who was somewhat like another sister in a way, she and Harry had become parts of the family a long time ago. There was no denying that should either of them need it, there would always be a place set of them at the table in the burrow. 

          But that look of confusion soon faded —— he supposed maybe he understood what she was saying. In a way. His family was still big, but it was missing a member, missing a source of life and laughter, and for George it was a loss that hit hard every day. Waking up to remember that his partner in crime wouldn’t be somewhere up to no good. That all the words in a sentence were all his now because Freddie wasn’t there anymore. That all the things that he imagined that the two of them would do together in the future, wasn’t going to happen anymore. Not having the other half of himself by his side anymore had made him feel very lonely at times.